Ulead VideoStudio 9

If you like the idea of editing home videos with your PC, you don't need to buy any software as Windows XP comes with Windows Movie Maker, a reasonably effective video-editing application. So why would you want to consider coughing up £50 for VideoStudio 9 from Ulead?

When in full swing, both applications employ similar interfaces, with a preview window, clips area and storyboard running along the bottom. Drag the clips onto the storyboard, rearrange them at will, add a few effects and transitions and then preview the results before creating or 'rendering' the final edited video.

However, before you ever get this far in VideoStudio, the software prompts you to select from a number of video-production methods. The first, called DV-to-DVD Wizard, is new to this latest version.

The idea here is to do away with editing all together: just connect the DV camcorder to the PC, press play on the former and the incoming footage can more or less be directly burned to DVD.

While this works, it offers minimal control. Better is VideoStudio's Movie Wizard which allows you to capture footage from your camcorder or select a clip from your hard disk, choose a preset theme, tweak the settings and render the video. When done, click the Create Disc button and the results are burned to DVD, VCD or SVCD.

For full control the user must venture into VideoStudio Editor. Here, footage can be captured, trimmed and manipulated in innumerable ways. For a £50 product, the spread and number of effects and transitions on offer is very generous.

All the while, the storyboard strip at the bottom of the editing window provides a visual guide as to what will happen and when. At any time, items on this strip can be simply picked up and repositioned or deleted.

Finally, the Share tab is the place where all your efforts are packaged and outputted according to your desires. In addition to burning to disc, the software can facilitate streaming video for your website, or a low-resolution clip for use on a Pocket PC or Windows smartphone.

While it's packed with great features and tools, our chief criticism is that at times operation can be sluggish.

Also consider:
Pinnacle Studio Plus 9